Friendly Atheist » James Dobson? Hypocrite? Never…

In a press conference call this morning, John McCain surrogate Sam Brownback (R-KS) pointed at Barack Obama and essentially called him a spineless panderer — and welcomed it, saying he expected Obama to cave in on Iraq withdrawal next. McCain senior policy adviser Randy Scheunemann, with tremendous self-assurance, described Obama’s support for the FISA bill — a bill McCain also supports! — as an example of Obama’s supreme commitment to his own “political fortunes” above all else. And then, to underscore how weak they now consider Obama to be, the McCain campaign then issued an “In Case You Missed It” press release with a transcript highlighting these statements.

In other words: it’s not just MoveOn.org and others on the left who are questioning Obama’s principles over the FISA flap; even his opponents are pointing the finger and laughing at him for being such a panderer and accommodationist. And Obama hasn’t even voted on the bill yet!

Brownback said Obama’s spinelessness on the D.C. gun ban, campaign funding, and, most importantly, on FISA, meant he probably would eventually cave in on Iraq. Brownback even “set down a marker” — dared Obama — to concede on Iraq just like he’s said he’ll do on FISA. It’s a remarkable display of chutzpah on Brownback’s part.

At least Obama said that he doesn’t support retroactive immunity and the bill is currently on hold. We’ll see what happens; right now it is “damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t.”

As far as his liberal supporters go: over 13,000 people at the Daily Kos took a poll. Mind you, Obama is getting hammered there for his FISA bill position. Result: 83% rate him at 60% or higher, 77% at 70% or higher, 64% at 80% or higher, 39% at 90% or higher, and 10% at 100%. In short, he remains popular.

Obama and Religion Watch James Dobson jump on Obama from quoting from the book of Leviticus only to justify his homophobia on Leviticus. 🙂

About Blueollie

To keep track of my sports activities. I rarely train for anything anymore; mostly I just do workouts of the following types: running, walking, weight lifting and swimming. My best ultra accomplishment was walking 101 miles in 24 hours in 2004. These days, I walk a marathon every once in a while (5:50 to 7 hours) There was a time when I could run a sub 40 minute 10K (did that once), but that was another lifetime ago; these a days 2427-2825 25:50-27:45 minutes for a 5K would be more like it. I also have an off and on interest in yoga and in weight training. My lifetime PB in the bench is 310; currently I do sets of 4-5 with 190.

To discuss the football, basketball or baseball game I’ve been to. Since 2011, I started to attend live football games regularly (University of Illinois, sometimes Illinois State, sometimes either the Colts or Bears of the NFL…don’t get me started on the Rams) ; I’ve attended Bradley Basketball games (men and women) for some time. In the past 3 years, I started to watch live baseball again (mostly the Peoria Chiefs and Bradley University).

From time to time, I post what I am thinking about mathematically

I often post links to science articles, especially articles about cosmology and evolution.

I am very sympathetic to the “new atheist” movement, though some might consider me to be an agnostic. I reject any notion of a deity that interferes with physical events, but remain agnostic to the idea that there might be something “grand and wonderful” (Dawkins’ phrase) outside of our current spacetime continuum.

I am a liberal Democrat who thinks that the current social atmosphere is tilted way too far toward the interests of big business, and I reject the idea that a “free market” cures all ills, though pure socialism doesn’t work either. I am also a believer in the freedom of speech, including speech that I might not like. Also, I’ve been involved (to a moderate degree) with political campaigns, ranging from City Council races up to Presidential races.

I like to post photos of trips and vacations.

I like women in spandex. 🙂

The 2016 election: I voted for Hillary Clinton and was dismayed that she lost the Electoral College, though I take a bit of comfort that a plurality of voters preferred her (by just over 2 percentage points!)

I see Donald Trump as an unqualified amateur who lacks the humility and deportment to be an effective president; I sure hope the time proves me wrong. I’ve been wrong before (e. g. my election prediction) and will be wrong again. I hope this is one of those times.